


on pain of death (let the curses tell your story)

by ell (amywaited)



Category: Marvel
Genre: Angst, Hurt, Kidnapping, M/M, Torture, Whump, all hurt and no comfort, also featuring: shitty villain of my own creation, i love u really!!, sorry Tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-10-09 19:17:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17412683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amywaited/pseuds/ell
Summary: tony's sick of being kidnapped all the time. the least they could do is give him a limo to ride in





	on pain of death (let the curses tell your story)

**Author's Note:**

> hope u like this. xoxo

 

Tony’s kinda sick of getting kidnapped. It’s all the same dusty, grungy van, with dusty straw bags over heads, and metal cuffs that don’t let him go anywhere and dig into his wrists like they have a personal vendetta against him. If Tony’s learnt anything in his many years, it’s that they probably do have a personal vendetta against him, because everyone seems to these days.

Today he’s in some kind of underground lab, which is new and kind of refreshing. At least different from moldy warehouses. It does kind of raise his hackles though, because the prospect of lab means he’ll probably be made to synthesize something or other, which will be used for nefarious purposes and Tony doesn’t do that anymore. He can only hope he can remain complicit and unharmed long enough for someone to rescue him.

If anyone rescues him.

 

* * *

 

No one’s come in to question him/hurt him/kill him yet, and it makes him nervous. It shouldn’t, because he doesn’t want to be around these guys for longer than he has to, but it does.

Tony has an actual bed, and two meals a day, and its probably the best hostage situation he’s ever been in, which isn’t saying much because the bar is admittedly low. It doesn’t do anything to calm his nerves, though, because it just means they’ll take it away as punishment.

 

* * *

 

“Stark!” Someone snaps, heavily accented. Tony wishes he knew where. “Get up. You have your first assignment.”

And those words are never good, are they, but a gun digs into the small of his back and he has to go. 

He’s pushed to a work station laden with chemicals and metals and nearly everything he could need to build some super-scary, evil weapon. Not that he’s planning on doing that.

“What do you expect me to do with this?” Tony asks, probably against his better judgement, but he’s never pretended to have any self preservation instincts.

Someone slaps him. “First rule iz no talking back.”

Christ. “Alright, fine. What do you want me to do?” Tony asks.

“Build us a poison,” one of the guys orders. He must be in charge. “Deadly but slow.”

“I’m an engineer, not a chemist.”

This time, there’s a knife, and it tears down his left arm. “No. Talking. Back.”

“H-holy fuck,” because ouch, and that’s blood, and crap. Tony knows enough about bad guys to know not to expect any kind of bandage, and he’ll just have to pray that it doesn’t get infected, but when has God ever done anything for him?

“Hm. Get to vork,” the guy says. “I will be back in six hours. I expect it to be finished.”

Six hours? Jesus. He waits for them all to exit, traipsing out of the door. It slides shut and locks. Tony could probably figure out how to get through the lock with enough time and corrosive chemical, but there’s at least three cameras on him right now, and he wouldn’t be surprised if they were armed with lasers, because that seems like just the kind of thing a bad guy would do.

 

* * *

 

He’s cobbled together an imitation of a poison. Six hours isn’t nearly long enough for it, and he’s tired and his wound is still bleeding sluggishly and he’s hungry. But he might as well play along.

The guy from before storms in. “Iz it done?”

Tony shakes his head. “Not yet. I need more time.”

“More time,” the guy spits. “Don’t ve all? You won’t get it. Bring it to me.”

Tony huffs, but picks up the vial. It’s not much, and he’s not a chemist, and it probably won’t do much damage yet. But it’ll do enough, he has to play them right, he has to. He shuffles over to the guy, mostly because he’s not sure what would happen if he didn’t and he doesn’t want to find out.

When Tony’s close enough, the guy reaches out and grabs his arm. “Wha-?!”

“Needle,” he orders, and someone brings him what looks like a drip and an IV line. 

“What the fuck-?!” Tony tries to say, before he’s stabbing the needle into Tony’s arm, and the poison he made is working its way into his own bloodstream.

 

* * *

 

_ ‘Tony? Oh, Jesus, oh Jesus, Tony.’ _

Tony wakes up warm. He’s curled around a body, James. Bucky. He feels himself relax.

Bucky chuckles and Tony feels the vibrations all through his chest. “Morning, sweetheart. It’s early. Go back to sleep.”

“Mmm, no,” Tony murmurs. His toes feel tingly. “I’d like to stay awake and kiss my husband.”

Bucky smiles, breathing warm air over Tony’s lips before leaning down to press their foreheads together. 

_ ‘Stay with me, God, Tony, stay with me.’ _

“Did you say something?” Tony asks.

Bucky shakes his head. “No. You imagining shit now? We should get you another psych eval scheduled,” he teases.

Tony makes a face. “Or we could not.”

“What’s the harm in a psych eval?” Bucky asks, joking. A smile dances in his eyes.

“They’re evil,” Tony declares simply, because they are and Bucky should know that by now. 

“Whatever you say, sugar,” Bucky says.

Tony’s legs are going numb. “Don’t tease me.”

_ ‘Tony, please, TONY!’ _

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Bucky tells him, rubbing their noses together. Tony feels himself smile, because Bucky makes him do that. Smile when he shouldn’t, and sometimes he can’t not kiss him.

“What was that for?” Bucky asks once Tony’s pulled back.

“Do I need a reason to kiss you?” Tony retorts. Then he sighs. “I just.. Feel really happy that you’re here with me. I’m really lucky.. You know?”

“If anyone’s the lucky one, I am,” Bucky says. Tony giggles.

_ ‘Tony..’ _

He breathes out slowly. “Sometimes I feel like I love you so much, my heart’s gonna burst,” Tony says. They’re a whisper, remnants of words he wishes he’s said. “Like you’re the only thing keeping me alive at the moment.”

“I feel the same way,” Bucky whispers back. 

Bucky’s words sound fake in his ears, and someone sobs in the back of his head. Tony breathes in. 

He doesn’t breathe out. 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! 
> 
> much love!!


End file.
